Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Back in January, Evil Dead News posted a trailer for a zombie horror comedy called "Deadheads". "Deadheads" is both written and directed by the Pierce Brothers, Brett Pierce and Drew Pierce. Their father is Bart Pierce, who did the Special Effects Photography on "The Evil Dead". We recently caught up with Brett Pierce for an exclusive interview. Here is what he had to say.

What is DEADHEADS about?

It's a buddy zombie comedy about two recently risen undead who embark on a road trip in search of a lost love. It's a mixed bag of comedy/action-adventure/horror. My favorite description from a friend was "It's the Ferris Bueller of zombie movies".

Where did the idea for DEADHEADS come from?

Drew and I have always been a fan of mixed genre films, especially horror/comedy. Drew was really set on a buddy zombie movie where the zombies were the main characters and I was really set on the idea of making a road trip movie because Drew and I love films like "Stand By Me" and "The Goonies". I loved Drew's idea so we jammed them together and ended up with a Zom Rom Com.

Zombie films seem to be really popular these days; what sets DEADHEADSapart from similar films?

We really put an emphasis on character in DEADHEADS. We wanted people to root for our zombie trio of Mike, Brent, and Cheese so we made a conscious effort to really make you care about these zombies. Drew and I see so many genre flicks that we should love just because it's our type of flick, like a zombie movie or superhero film, but most of the time they fall flat for us because we're not emotionally invested in the characters. That's what we love so that's where we put our efforts in the script.

Is this film solely for horror fans, or will it appeal to a largeraudience?

It's for everybody. It's got some really fun silly horror bits that is inspired from our days of growing up amid the production of EVIL DEAD but it's as much a horror comedy as it is an adventure film. Audiences who have seen the film have noticed a lot of influences in the flick ranging from STAR WARS and INDIANA JONES all the way to a love for 80's cartoons like TRANSFORMERS. It's a crazy road trip movie with zombies looking for a girl so it's flavored for everybody.

What are some of your favorite zombie films?

I love both Dawn of the Dead's. Not sure if it gets any better than those two. Shaun of the Dead of course. Shaun was one of the most enjoyable times in a movie theater I've had in the last 10 years. That movie is gold.

How did you originally get interested in horror films and filmmaking?

Drew and I's father was the photographic FX artist on the original EVIL DEAD. When we were itty bitty our father invited the Evil Dead crew to take over our house for the summer to complete the FX work on the film. It was a mad house of severed limbs, cockroaches, and Karo syrup but we loved it. We saw Sam and all these young guys making movie magic and after that we never wanted to be anything other than filmmakers.

Who handled the special effects for the film?

Patrick Halpin of Dead Pretzel FX and Jason "Chappy" Chapman. These guys dealt with the daily nightmare of having to do three zombie leads every day as well as all the practical gore FX that we dropped on them. Sometimes we had 30 zombie extras as well as an impalement to do in the same day and they'd do it. I love Michigan-based crews because they always get it done. Those guys are wizards and they did an amazing job on the film.

Are there any memorable scenes that you hope will end up in the Director's cut, that you wish could have stayed in the current edit?

We really worked hard to get the movie to a cut that we loved so we're really happy with the way it stands. But that being said, we had so many amazing one-liners from Ben Webster, who plays our Michael Bay infused zombie hunter McDinkle, that it kills me that some of those gut bombs will probably never be seen. Some of them made it into the blooper reel over the end credits though.

You're using your Dad's sequence from Evil Dead in DEADHEADS during a drive-in movie scene. How did that come about?

We got really lucky. A family that owned this beautiful drive-in, the Capri, on the west side of Michigan was nice enough to let us shoot there. The original scene was not meant to take place at a drive-in, but I saw it while scouting for locations and knew we had to rewrite to make it work. Only problem now was, what's on the screen? It was a Hail Mary, but I called Sam Raimi's office from set and somehow got transferred to him. He answered the phone "Hey Bart!" thinking I was my father. I pleaded our case. I let him know much he and the EVIL DEAD crew were an inspiration for my brother and I and how important it was to have a part of our dad's work in the movie for us. Luckily, Sam is the coolest guy in the world and he made it happen. The nerd in us still can't believe we get to have it in there.

DEADHEADS recently won the Outstanding Achievement in Filmmaking Award at The Newport Beach Film Festival. How does it feel to start winning awards for your hard efforts?

Amazing! We've been working on this film for years and we've taken our hits. We ran out of money, we were denied by fests, and we couldn't get a soul to watch it because it didn't star one of the TWILIGHT kids. We've screened now at some fests and the response is huge and that's so gratifying. We had three showings at the Newport Beach Film Fest because we kept selling out. As a filmmaker all you see is what you can do better next time but when audience members come and give you a hug and tell us how much they love the movie that all goes away.

You guys are currently doing the film festival circuit. At whichupcoming festivals will DEADHEADS be screened?

We're going to Fright Fest and screening at the Empire Cinema in London which is amazing! It seats over 1300 and it's our type of crowd. We're also in Michael Moore's Traverse City Film Festival at the end of the month for a nice home state of Michigan premiere. We're also in the Albuquerque Film Festival in August. More in the pipeline too. We're going to all of them!

DEADHEADS has secured distribution in parts of Europe, the Middle East, Australia and New Zealand. Can we expect U.S. distribution soon?

Things are looking good in that department and we're hoping to have an announcement here in the near future.

Do you have any other projects in the works that you can tell us about?

We've got a fun Halloween movie we'd love to do about a guy who becomes the new Samhain, who, in our tale, is the spirit and protector of all Hallow's Eve (Halloween). It's Evil Dead 2 style fun with a lot of traditional Halloween myths worked in such as Samhain, Jack O'Lantern, the Headless Horseman and all the Halloween creepiness we can muster. We want to make the movie that everyone wants to watch leading up to the single best holiday ever.

Where can one find out more about DEADHEADS?

Facebook, Twitter, and the website. The cast and I are on Twitter so come say "Hi". We all like talking movies and pop culture. Bunch a nerds.

Director Federico Alvarez has revealed a few small bits about his upcoming Evil Dead remake, though I think you could have guessed most of it for yourself.

Here are some quotes from El Pais as filtered through Google Translate. First, Alvarez speaks:

As fans of the original we know what we are going to offend those who are also fans and what we will not bother you, but we can not make a movie just for them… we have a pretty decent English but not to give realism to the dialogue, in our case [having Diablo Cody do a rewrite] was essential to that.

And now, from the text of their story:

The only recognizable face is part of Bruce Campbell, but will be in a cameo towards the end of the film. Another thing that will change the characters and some story details, while keeping the basic outline of friends who are beleaguered by demons in a cabin alone.

A Campbell cameo towards the end? Chief Deadite? Hitchhiker shot through the door? Police officer come to look at the mess and wear shades while talking about the stupid dead kids before an arm shoots up out of the ground and grabs him around the throat?

I’m thinking he’s going to be a deadite, at least. Or perhaps a better word would be “hoping.”

I was also trying to suggest they’re going to flip it and have the protagonist be a girl, even though that would bring the film rather more in line with typical horror movie convention…

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

You can now head over to the 'Features' page to read an interview conducted with Mark Shostrom. As well as heading the make-up effects department on Evil Dead II, Mark has worked on a long list of TV and film productions, including A Nightmare On Elm Street Parts 1, 2, & 3, From Beyond, and Videodrome.

Monday, July 18, 2011

Ryan Meade, a friend of Mr. Sullivan and a filmmaker, is finishing up a documentary film about Mr. Sullivan called “Invaluable.” The title comes from the word Fangoria Magazine has used to describe Mr. Sullivan’s involvement in the “Evil Dead” films. The film covers Mr. Sullivan’s art and film career and includes interviews with some of films biggest stars, including, of course, the cast and crew of the “Evil Dead” films. The film will also feature a lot of behind the scenes looks at the “Evil Dead” films.

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Things are looking good for USA’s Burn Notice: Its season-five ratings are healthy, Michael Westen (Jeffrey Donovan) has been unburned, and earlier this year, viewers got to meet a pre-Miami Sam Axe in the network’s TV movie, The Fall of Sam Axe. Cult B-movie icon Bruce Campbell (he of Evil Dead fame) plays Axe, a mojito-sipping, Hawaiian-shirt-sporting ex-Navy Seal, on the hit drama. We spoke with him ahead of tonight's episode about what’s in store for Sam this season, how he shed twenty pounds for the prequel, and why he still geeks out over Comic Con.

Raimi is back with his original "Evil Dead" producing partners Rob Tapert and Bruce Campbell on the Ghost House Pictures project for Mandate. Campbell starred as "Ash" in "Evil Dead" and its two sequels.

Fede Alvarez is directing, and wrote the script with Rodo Sayagues.

The original "Evil Dead" is about five friends who unintentionally summon demons in the woods.

Alright, you primitive screwheads, listen up: a new Evil Dead movie is on the way.

Talk about a new Evil Dead film has been kicking around for awhile but as is usually the case with such fan-powered hopes and dreams, there's been no real substance to any of it. Until yesterday, that is, when DreadCentral.com claimed "on good authority from a very reliable source" that Bob Murawski, an editor whose partnership with director Sam Raimi goes back to the 1992 flick Army of Darkness, was in Detroit to start work on a fourth film. Evil Dead 4, according to the report, will be "a small indie thing like the first two."

That's good news, albeit still a rumor - but a rumor that got a big boost late last night by way of a tweet from none other than Bruce "Ash" Campbell, B-movie legend, best Elvis ever and of course the "hero," as far as that goes, of the Evil Dead franchise.

"Believe in the remake, dawg!" he wrote. "The project is real. In the works. Cool as hell. Scary as hell."

I'm not sure if the Evil Dead films qualify as scary, but cool as hell? Definitely. And a chance to watch Campbell smash things over his own head again? Take my money, please.

UPDATE: In a follow-up tweet, Campbell clarified that the new Evil Dead film is in fact a remake of the original Evil Dead and not an all-new chapter. "Good people. My tweet was about remaking Evil Dead - not Evil Dead 4," he wrote. Campbell's role in the project is not yet known.

It also appears that while Sam Raimi will be involved, Fede Alvarez will actually be in the director's chair. According to Bloody Disgusting, Alvarez came to attention with the 2009 short film Ataque de pánico! [Panic Attack!]

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Some very interesting news to report tonight. It all starts on Dread Central, where they report from a "very reliable source" that a new Evil Dead, a fourth movie which was been talked about plenty before, is in the works and that Sam Raimi's editor Bob Murawski is out in Detroit starting work. But then things get a little fuzzy because Raimi is actually casting his other movie Oz: The Great in Powerful in Detroit right now (via BD), however there's hope. A tweet from a new twitter account that might indeed be Bruce Campbell himself (@GroovyBruce) confirms the news.

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

He is Ash, the wisecracking hero with a chainsaw hand from the "Evil Dead" movies. He is Autolycus, the comical "King of Thieves" from the "Hercules: The Legendary Journies" and "Xena: Warrior Princess" television series. He is an aging mummy-battling Elvis Presley in the horror-comedy "Bubba Ho-Tep." And among nearly 100 other characters, self-proclaimed B-movie actor Bruce Campbell is now retired Navy SEAL Sam Axe from USA Network's hit spy show, "Burn Notice."

Instead of gaining fame as a pretty marquee face in blockbuster movies, Campbell's notoriety is the result of years spent in the blue collar world of acting. Originally from the suburbs of Detroit, he is a work-for-hire performer who just happened to appear in enough movies and TV shows he got to be well known. It didn't hurt that his roles in the aforementioned cult favorites (not to mention his turns in "Maniac Cop," "Escape from L.A.," "The Adventures of Brisco County Jr.") made Campbell a pop culture stalwart. Campbell has even traded in on his working-class cult actor status in those Old Spice commercials, a meta movie "My Name is Bruce" - where he played himself - and two books, "If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B Movie Actor" and "Make Love! The Bruce Campbell Way."

But it is getting more difficult for the 53-year-old to claim "B" status.

You can now head over to the 'Features' page to read an interview conducted with Angela Featherstone. She played Ash's love interest in the 'S-Mart' US theatrical ending of Army Of Darkness, and has since appeared in a list of subsequent film & TV roles including The Wedding Singer, Friends, Seinfeld, and The Twilight Zone. Angela has only recently come to the Sci-Fi & horror convention circuit and will be appearing at a number of US events later in the year, and possibly coming to the UK too.